The outcome of the Jobstown trial is causing chaos for the political
establishment in Dublin after an attempted frame-up failed to jail a
sitting TD and other left-wing activists.

Even the 26 County Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has admitted concerns over the
evidence given by police in the trial, which involved rehearsed
falsehoods over the claims that socialist TD Paul Murphy (pictured) and others had
sought to kidnap former Labour Tanaiste Joan Bruton by obstructing her
vehicle at a 2014 protest against water charges.

The near-identical testimony of several Gardai police was exposed as
untrue by video evidence, something Varadkar accepted should be looked
at by the Garda Commissioner and senior management.

“We need to be able to trust that when the Gardai stand up in court and
they say something happened that it did happen and it shouldn’t conflict
with video evidence and if it does then that is a problem.”

The Taoiseach said that he would be “very concerned” at gardai giving
evidence “that is not in line with the facts”.

Video evidence showed that for most of the delay when she claimed to be
falsely imprisoned, Burton’s vehicle could have simply reversed away
from the protest. There was also separate video evidence that Burton
was engaged in an act of political theatre when she exhorted her
assistant to use the situation to mobilise sentiment on social media
against the protestors, who they referred to as “the dregs [of
society]”.

Previous Fine Gael governments have always defended the Gardai from
allegations of dishonesty, including at the juryless Special Criminal
Court where hundreds of republicans have been jailed as IRA Volunteers,
solely on the word of Gardai.

Recently, the integrity of the Gardai has been publicly called into
question by the actions of whistleblowers and revelations of corruption,
conspiracy and white collar crime in the force.

Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin made several criticisms of Mr
Varadkar’s comments, describing them as “ill-judged” and “not fair”.
Fine Gael’s minority government depends on Fianna Fail for its continued
existence.

Mr Varadkar’s spokesman refuted the criticism. “Standards must be
maintained. Public trust is sacrosanct,” he said.

Prosecutors, who have blithely ignored the outcome of the Jobstown trial
and are pursuing related charges against other activists, also condemned
the Taoiseach’s concerns.

Paul Murphy has called for a public inquiry into the affair, and
described Varadkar’s comments were “the first crack in the wall of
opposition” to an inquiry.

He said that the admission from the Taoiseach that the evidence from
some gardai was contradictory to the video evidence proved that they
could not be allowed to investigate themselves.

He said the gardai had given a “litany of false, inaccurate statements”
in the trial.

“There needs to be a public inquiry to ask how... this conspiracy took
place. Who was involved?” Mr Murphy asked during at a press conference.

He said the mainstream media was still repeating the false allegations
made against the protestors during the trial. The protest against water
charges was peaceful and spontaneous, he said, but the claim that any of
his associates where chanting abuse was wrong.

There was anger that the mainstream media is going to extreme lengths to
defend the police and the judicial system following a failed political
trial to damage socialism in Ireland. People Before Profit TD Richard
Boyd Barrett singled out the Irish Times and Irish Independent and
described some coverage by the mainstream media as an “absolute scandal”
and “shocking”.

One of the defendants Kieran Mahon described it as an “inconvenient
truth” that six people had been found not guilty.

Nearly 100 TDs, senators and academics have now added their names to a
list calling for an official inquiry into the events leading up to the
six men being charged with the false imprisonment.

We have a favour to ask

We want to keep our publication as available as we can, so we need to ask for your help. Irish Republican News takes time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe it makes a difference.
If everyone who reads our website helps fund it, our future would be much more secure.

For as little as £1, you can support Irish Republican News – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.